It’s time for the holidays, and for a lot of people, that means out-of-town guests. In our case, we are the out-of-town guests – we always go home for Christmas. But we enjoy hosting people at our house as well. It saves them money that would have been spent on a hotel room, and it gives us the chance to be hospitable, and serve a friend or family member in a great way.

In case you didn’t know: it isn’t always easy being the houseguest. You’re away from home, and you don’t have everything you’re used to at your fingertips. Plus you don’t want to impose by requesting missing items or asking for anything extra.

That’s where excellent hosting comes in. By thinking ahead a little, you can prep your house to be friendly for guests, and make staying away from home an easy and relaxing experience for them! Here are 10 ways to be a good hostess for the holidays:

Write or print your wi-fi network and password where guests can find it.

Set out trial-sized bath products and pain relievers (just in case they forgot).

Keep some holiday-fresh Febreze in the bathroom.

Have fresh towels handy.

Fill a shelf in the pantry with grab-and-go snacks.

Hang hooks on the back of the guest room door for used towels.

Spread familiar holiday scents though the house with candles, to make guests feel at home.

Put together a coffee station with mugs, instant coffee, tea bags, and sugar.

Make items that are used and replaced often (like toilet paper or Q-tips) accessible.

The holidays are a magical time of year, and something that always gets me in the spirit are the seasonal fragrances. But so many people in and out of the house can make it all a little chaotic…and stinky! Literally. Spread cheer instead of stink with Febreze’s seasonal scents – Cranberry Cheer and Jolly Pine.

They’re also helping you out with a fun music video on “The 12 Stinks of Christmas,” starring Matthew Morrison and Jane Lynch. (Any Gleeks out there?) Check out their holiday tips for guests as well! Follow them on social media @Febreze_Fresh and #12Stinks.

Febreze is also generously providing a gift basket for one lucky reader, filled with Febreze products, mittens, coasters, a Moscow Mule mug, and a serving basket! To enter, leave a comment with your favorite thing about the holidays! For extra entries, follow What You Make It on Bloglovin’, Twitter, and/or Instagram, and leave a comment with your user name for each! Giveaway will end on December 4, 2015, and a winner will randomly be chosen. US entrants only.

This review was made possible by iConnect and Febreze. I was provided compensation to facilitate this post, but all opinions are 100% mine.

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #LoveAmericanHome #CollectiveBias

Each season comes with distinctive looks, scents, and feels. The ones that come with fall are definitely my favorite. The colors are rich and vibrant, pumpkin and apple dominate every flavor, and it’s just starting to get a little chilly. If you’ve been around here a while, you know I’m kind of into it.

One way to really bring the season into your home is to decorate the mantle over your fireplace (or a shelf added to any wall, like this one). It’s the perfect large, flat space for decor. It also doesn’t have to be expensive! I found most of my decor at Walmart. Here are some easy, simple steps on how put together a beautiful fall mantle (for cheap)!

Spread a row of burlap over the mantle. I picked up a burlap table runner at Walmart (for less than $6), and it was just the right size to cover my mantle, with a bit on the sides.

Use fall-themed decor. This sparkly green pumpkin is from Walmart, was inexpensive and adds some color to the space. Another option is to add some of my free fall printables – just print and frame!

Personalize. A wooden letter and a chalkboard sign, both at Walmart for under $3 each, added a little bit of personalization to the mix.

Use what you have. I love lanterns, so I pulled out two we had around the house, one of them from our wedding decor. I also used the vase and fake flowers we already had.

Add decorative candles that also set the mood.American Home™ by Yankee Candle® brand is a new line of candles featured at Walmart. It’s awesome for us, because we don’t have a Yankee Candle® store nearby, but Walmart is right up the road. They have some fantastic fall fragrances – I picked up “Shades of Fall,” “Pumpkin Apple Harvest,” and “Ginger Pumpkin Pie” (see all of them here). The fragrance is great, and they are also in pretty fall colors, so they not only smell fantastic, but look great on the mantle, too.

Make a banner or garland. It’s easy!

Cut pretty, decorative paper with a color scheme into circles – you can pretty much make them as big as you want. Use a stencil to ensure they’re all the same size.

Fold the circles in half over the twine.

Glue the bottom half, and press together. Arrange the way you’d like it.

You can find the American Home™ by Yankee Candle® brand in Walmart in the Home Decor section. The candles I used were the large two-wick tumblers ($14.93), the medium two-wick tumbler ($10.93), and the small tumbler ($4.93).

Remember to use these candles carefully! I would be sure that the candles were clear of the TV, or anything else hanging over your mantle, before lighting. Before lighting, I trimmed the wicks to 1/8″. Make sure it’s on a heat-resistant surface, don’t leave it unattended, keep away from drafts, and stop using when the wax is a 1/2″ from the bottom.

Thanks to American Home™ by Yankee Candle® brand, Walmart, and Collective Bias for sponsoring this post! Check out all the fragrances in the collection, and let me know: Which one is your favorite? Which one gets you in the mood for fall?

Typically my house-cleaning is a last-minute endeavor. Maybe the day before someone comes over (that’s if I’ve planned well), I’m scrambling to tidy up, wipe dust from the mantle, sweep, clean the toilets, etc, etc.

There’s an easier way to do it. It’s cleaning as you go. I don’t always have all day to clean, but I usually can find good five-minute chunks of time, and if you utilize those moments, you can actually get a lot accomplished. That way when it comes time to really clean, you don’t have to be overwhelmed. You can save it for the big jobs – the things like windows, scrubbing the tub, etc.

Here are 30 cleaning tasks that each take 5 minutes or less. Take advantage of a few minutes here and there to get these tasks out of the way, and cut down your preparation time for when friends come over by a lot.

1. Empty small wastebaskets.
2. Put away clean dishes.
3. Make your bed.
4. Clear the dining room/main eating table.
5. Sweep one room’s floor.
6. Clean just-used dishes.
7. Take out the trash.
8. Spray and wipe down kitchen countertops.
9. Dust surfaces of one room.
10. Put in a load of laundry.
11. Put away personal belongings in one room.
12. Organize shoes.
13. Spray down plastic toys (I use a half-vinegar, half-water mixture) and let dry.
14. Throw away old receipts and mail.
15. Dust ceiling fans and lighting fixtures.
16. Surface-clean toilet and faucets in the bathroom.
17. Put away laundry (folding is another matter).
18. Spray and wipe down mirrors.
19. Mop/wipe down floor of one room.
20. Tidy shelves on a bookcase or bedside table.
21. Gather grimy washcloths, towels and dishrags and add them to the laundry basket; replace with fresh ones.
22. Surface-clean top of oven.
23. Disinfect doorknobs and handles.
24. Rearrange kitchen cabinet shelves (or just one).
25. Take down outdated items from the refrigerator door.
26. Take off old sheets and replace with fresh ones.
27. Clear cobwebs.
28. Vacuum the carpet or spray and wipe down the hardwood floors of one room.
29. Run a clean cycle on the dishwasher or clean kitchen items you use every day, like drying racks and water pitchers.
30. Clear old or expired food from fridge and shelves.

Of course some of these things depend on your house, and how you clean typically. What 5-minute cleaning chores can you think of to knock out ahead of time?

Ever since we moved in, I thought our backyard would be perfect for a movie night. A sheet, a projector, some blankets, and some popcorn would make for a perfect evening with friends.

Last Friday night, we actually did it! We watched “The Sandlot,” one of my favorites, with the singles ministry and others from church. It was a lot of fun, but I definitely learned on the go that it wasn’t as easy as it looked to put it together. (More on that later.)

Here are some tips for putting together your own backyard movie night:

Items Needed:

Projector + power cord

Speakers + audio cord

DVD player, laptop, or other method of showing the movie + visual cord to projector, power cord

Extension cord

Big white sheet + tape or hooks to hang it

Movie (in whatever format you need to be able to play it on your device)

Blankets

Snacks + paper products

Bug spray

1. Do a test run before the night-of. This would have saved us so much hassle. Make sure you have all the needed cords (FYI – there are a lot!), and that they all work properly. Again, the cords you will need are: audio and visual, connector to movie player, power cords, extension cords.

2. Pick a movie everyone will enjoy. “The Sandlot” is the perfect summer movie, in my mind. Consider the audience. Other ideas are: animated films to gear towards kids; classic movies for a romantic night; superhero movies which seem to appeal to a range of ages; or pick a genre and make a theme out of the whole night!

3. Set up the backyard. Make sure the grass is cut! Lay out blankets, set up the projector and all the A/V equipment, hang your sheet/movie screen (we bought a cheap one and cut holes in it, then hung it from hooks on our gutter). We have garden lights in the backyard, which were super helpful as well.

4. Set up snacks inside. Avoid bugs by keeping the food inside, but make it easy for people to carry it out with paper plates and cups. I recommend a popcorn bar for people to make custom mixes, popsicles, and watermelon

5. Have bug spray available. Because mosquitoes will crash the party. Encourage people to use it away from the masses.